Thales announced today that it has been competitively awarded a Euro 76.5 million contract for the Tactical Indoors Simulation System (TACTIS) of the Royal Netherlands Army. TACTIS is a networked and modular simulation system, introducing a Distributed Interactive Synthetic (DIS) environment for combined arms training. It will be used to instruct and train armoured infantry and Leopard 2 tank battalions in a sophisticated, mobile virtual environment.  TACTIS includes 31 simulators, connected to 8 desktop PC systems. The system will be delivered by the end of 2006.

Thales Training & Simulation (TT&S)  is prime contractor of the TACTIS programme, and is leading a team including Thales Nederland B.V. and Cap Gemini Ernst & Young Nederland B.V. Overall the share of work for Netherlands industry is substantially above 50%. The award of this contract and the distribution of work demonstrates that Thales' multi-domain, multi-domestic policy is successful.

"Tactis is indoor training at its finest. This system assures the ultimate combat training for our forces. Training in a virtual environment enables a crew to practise until a skill is completely mastered. The increasing use of simulators makes it possible for us to meet two of our goals: optimisation of our training methods in a way that is environmentally friendly as well", says Director Material major general H.J.G.J. Teussink on behalf of the Royal Netherlands Army.

The TACTIS programme positions Thales within Europe as the leading provider of networked simulation systems and reinforces its strength in the land forces market in the field of synthetic combined arms training.  Thales has already delivered over 300 training simulation systems to the armies of 20 countries.

Thales is a world leader in professional electronics in three key markets: Aerospace, Defence and Information Technology & Services (IT&S).  The Group employs 65,000 people in nearly 50 countries worldwide, and generated revenues of over Euro 11 billion in 2002

Further technical details
TACTIS is highly modular and can be readily configured for various training levels and different exercises to enhance operational effectiveness from individual crew members up to commanders at company or battalion level.  Provision is included for both current and future weapon systems (eg medium range anti-tank weapon/helicopters etc).
The synthetic environment will use the new Thales image generator "ThalesView" and Thales' Computer Generated Forces SETHI product. 

The delivery includes a central system and three further simulation subsystems consisting of:
- 15 Leopard 2A6 tank simulators (including 8 mobile simulators)
- 16 'YPR' generic mechanised infantry simulators
- 8 desktop PC systems to simulate supporting units such as artillery fire support
   and combat engineers

The fixed elements of the system will be located at the Royal Netherlands Army site in Amersfoort whilst the eight mobile Leopard 2 tank simulators, housed in ISO containers, will be operated by the cavalry battalions in various locations. All weapon system simulators will be interconnected through a WAN/LAN network architecture that utilises DIS and HLA standards.

More information
Maureen Bakker
Telephone: +31 (0)74 248 26 97
E-mail: maureen.bakker@nl.thalesgroup.com